My Day Today

My faith has definitely been tested today. As you all know, I'm trying to prepare for this Summer Internship to New Orleans and Central America. I sent out my support letters two weeks ago. Granted, it takes around a week for them to all be delivered to their destination. Plus, any mail from Thursday through this weekend at Convoy of Hope hasn't been put into the computer yet. I called yesterday to find out how close I was to my goal of 3,100 dollars. She didn't get the chance to call me back yesterday. Today I called again around 1:00ish, and she said that as of today (not counting any weekend mail) I had a total of 25 dollars. Seriously? My heart sank. I thought oh man. I was expecting at least a couple hundred. Instead of going to the Lord, I called my Mom. I know I sounded depressed, because she immediately asked what was wrong. I told her about the 25 dollars, and then I also told her about my mistake. I sent out all the support letters without my name on the cut off portion the donor sends in with their check. So, if money has come in, without my name on it, I wouldn't get it deposited into my account. I'm PRAYING hard that anyone who has donated to the trip subconsciously went ahead and wrote my name on the memo portion of a check or somewhere on that slip of paper.

Then, the Lord smacked me right upside the head. 25 dollars is closer to 3,100 dollars than 0 dollars. Which is exactly where I was sitting two weeks ago. So, PRAISE be to GOD that I am only 3,075 dollars away from my goal. Actually, less than that. I received a 50 dollar check in the mail a week ago, and a 150 dollar check 2 days ago. GOD is faithful. After dropping those off today, I am now only 2,875 dollars away from my goal. Seriously, rejoice with me in this! If I cannot rejoice and praise God over 25 dollars I do not have the right heart or attitude to even minister on this trip.

Whether the Lord sends me to the people of New Orleans and Central America or not, He has already taught me many many lessons. For that, I am grateful.
He has taught me about stewardship.
He has taught me about faithfulness.
He has taught me the importance of personal devotions.
He has shown me how much I mean to Him.
He has taught me how much He longs for me to pray to Him.
He is teaching me how to pray.
He is showing me how to look at people.
He is training me.

All of these things, and I'm only 2 weeks into this journey. How awesome is our God. I read a letter by my Pastor at James River. Pastor John Lindell wrote about the word 'awesome.' It means to stand in awe. It means "awe-inspiring." I believe that this word should be reserved for our Lord. I say it way too much. Like Pastor said, we use it very loosely. Awesome! we exclaim about the latest joke, or a good movie. But, does it really inspire awe? Probably not. The Lord inspires awe. I am going to work hard to make sure that word is reserved for our God.

How great is He? He is bigger to me everyday. And, "Greater things are yet to come."
Love you guys!